By Har Sinai Temple
MAY 20 TRIBUTE SHABBAT FOR FOLKSINGER DEBBIE FRIEDMAN
Hopewell Twp. – The life and musical contributions of self-taught Jewish folksinger Debbie Friedman, who died in January, will be remembered in a tribute Shabbat service May 20 at Har Sinai Temple.
The 7:30 p.m. tribute to the singing artist once called "the Jewish Joan Baez" will take place at the temple located at 2421 Pennington Rd. on Denow Road West with Cantor Emily Pincus and Har Sinai’s Religious School’s Musical Director Susan Sacks leading the service. The event is free and open to the public.
Friedman’s music evolved when she looked for an alternative to the musical expression she found at the Minnesota synagogue she attended as a young woman. A self-described "child of the ’60s," she combined Hebrew liturgical texts with American folk music to form a contemporary form of Jewish reform music.
With a career forged during the Vietnam War era, the singer who played the acoustic guitar is best remembered for her song set to a prayer, " "V’Ahavta," and "Mi Shebeirach," a healing prayer she wrote for a friend who was troubled by getting older. It has become a traditional song in Jewish Reform services.
Friedman recorded more than 20 albums and was artist-in-residence at the Los Angeles campus of Hebrew Union College when she died at age 59.

